7&S5 

WCs. 


UC-NRLF 


HISTORICAL  ADDRESS, 


THE  CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 


VERNON,  CONNECTICUT. 


ALLYN  STANLEY  KELLOGG. 


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JBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

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THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST 


IN 


VERNON,   CONNECTICUT. 


AN   HISTORICAL  ADDRESS 


BY 


ALLYN  STANLEY   KELLOGG. 


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INTRODUCTION 


The  following  address,  relating  to  the  formation  and 
early  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Vernon,  Con- 
necticut, was  prepared  at  the  solicitation  of  its  pastor, 
by  Allyn  S.  Kellogg,  and  delivered  by  him  at  the  church 
on  Sunday,  January  2 2d,   1888. 

As  it  embraced  also  some  account  of  the  daughter 
churches  in  Rockville,  Mr.  Kellogg  was  asked  to  repeat 
the  address  in  that  city.  Ill  health  prevented  its  public 
delivery ;  and  in  its  revised  form  it  is  now  published  as 
of  interest  to  the  churches  alike  of  Vernon  and  Rockville. 

Newtonville,  Mass. 
April,  1894. 


Allyn  Stanley  Kellogg,  son  of  Allyn  and  Eliza  White 
Kellogg,  was  born  in  Vernon,  October  15th,  1824.  He  was  for 
many  years  Clerk  of  the  Church,  and  was  particularly  interested  in 
all  things  relating  to  its  formation  and  early  history. 

He  died  at  Newtonville,  Massachusetts,  April  3d,  1893. 


ADDRESS 


A  year  or  two  ago,  the  elder  of  the  Con- 
gregational churches  then  existing  in  Rockville, 
celebrated  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  its  organ- 
ization. In  his  historical  discourse  on  that 
occasion,  the  pastor  recounted  the  steps  by 
which  thirty-five  members  of  the  original 
church  in  Vernon,  with  "tender  expressions 
of  love  and  respect  for  the  parent  church," 
and  with  the  full  approval  of  their  remaining 
brethren,  separated  themselves  from  its  fellow- 
ship. They  left  the  home  in  which  they  had 
been  richly  blessed,  and  in  which  some  of 
them  had  been  nurtured  from  their  youth, 
that  they,  with  others,  might  take  up  the 
duty  to  which  they  were  providentially  called ; 
of  establishing  Christian  institutions  in  the 
Northern  part  of  the  town. 

I  am  requested  to  speak  of  those  earlier 
religious  institutions  in  Vernon,  from  which 
those    in    Rockville    sprung.       There   is  time 


only  to  recite  the  principal  facts,  preserved  in 
the  public  records,  relating  to  the  origin  and 
formation  of  the  First  Church  and  Society  in 
Vernon,  and  to  sketch  briefly  the  history  of 
that  church  and  society,  for  the  three-quarters 
of  a  century  before  a  second  church  was  formed. 

These  facts  are  a  part  of  Rockville's  history. 
As  early,  at  least,  as  1739,  the  power  of  this 
wild  stream  had  been  brought  into  use,  in  a 
saw-mill,  a  grist-mill,  and  in  iron  works;  and 
near  to  these  there  were  dwelling-houses.  And 
so,  for  almost  a  hundred  years  before  a  church 
was  established  here,  there  were  people  here 
who  were  united  in  all  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
relations  with  those  who  lived  South  of  this 
valley.  They  had  the  same  religious  teachers. 
They  took  part  in  the  earliest  efforts  made  to 
secure  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  within  this 
town.  They  helped  to  found  the  church  in 
Vernon.  And  it  was  in  that  church,  that  most 
of  the  founders  of  the  first  church  in  Rock- 
ville  received  strength  for  their  undertaking. 

The  ecclesiastical  history  of  Vernon  prop- 
erly begins  with  the  settlement  of  the  town  of 
Bolton,   in  which  the  larger  part  of  Vernon 


was  then  included.  The  General  Assembly 
authorized  the  settlement  of  this  tract  of  land 
in  May,  1718,  under  the  direction  of  a  com- 
mittee appointed  for  that  purpose.  This  com- 
mittee made  fifty  allotments  for  settlers,  one 
of  which  was  expressly  "  designed  for  a 
minister's  lot." 

In  October,  1720,  "the  Governour,  Council, 
and  Representatives,  in  General  Court  assem- 
bled," incorporated  the  town  by  the  name  of 
Bolton.  "  And,  for  the  setting  up  and  main- 
taining the  worship  of  God  there,"  as  the  pur- 
pose is  expressed  in  the  enactment,  a  tax  was 
laid  upon  "  all  the  lots  in  said  town,  but  that 
laid  out  for  the  minister."  This  tax  was  con- 
tinued for  several  years,  until  it  amounted  in 
the  whole  to  thirteen  pounds  ten  shillings  on 
each  allotment ;  a  sum  much  greater  for  those 
days  than  would  now  be  the  forty-five  dollars 
by  which  we  should  express  it  in  federal  money. 

A  meeting-house  was  built  two  or  three 
years  after  the  town  was  incorporated.  In 
May,  1725,  when  the  town  had  increased  to 
more  than  thirty  families,  liberty  was  granted 
to  the  people  "  to  imbody  in  church  estate," 


8 


with  liberty  "to  call  and  settle  an  orthordox 
minister  among  them,  with  the  approbation  of 
the  neighboring  churches."  In  October,  of 
the  same  year,  a  church  was  formed,  and  the 
Reverend  Thomas  White  was  ordained  its 
pastor. 

All  these  acts  affected  alike  the  proprietors 
and  the  inhabitants  of  all  parts  of  the  town. 
Mr.  White  was  for  thirty-five  years  the  minis- 
ter of  the  whole  town.  The  people  who  lived 
in  the  North  part  of  Bolton  shared  in  the 
expense  of  supporting  him,  and,  so  far  as  was 
practicable,  attended  upon  his  ministrations. 
The  church  communicants  dwelling  there  were 
members  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Bolton. 

As  the  families  in  the  Northern  part  of  the 
town  increased  in  number,  the  difficulty  of 
attending  public  worship  was  so  great  that, 
as  early  as  1748,  the  people  there  "obtained 
liberty  from  the  church,  of  having  the  word 
of  God  preached  amongst  themselves,  for  the 
winter  season,"  and  in  that  year  the  town 
released  them  from  half  their  minister's  rate. 
The  next  year,  in  1749,  they  asked  that  such 
winter  privileges  be  confirmed  to  them  by  the 


legislature,  saying,  "That  Providence  hath 
cast  our  habitations  at  a  great  distance  from 
the  place  of  publick  worship  in  said  town,  by 
reason  of  which  we  are  not  capable  of  attending 
said  worship  in  the  town,  especially  in  the 
winter  season,  some  of  us  living  seven  miles 
from  the  meeting-house,  and  the  most  of  us 
above  five." 

Their  prayer  was  granted.  Liberty  was 
given  them  "  to  hire  an  orthodox  approved 
minister,  or  candidate  for  the  ministry,  to 
preach  among  themselves  from  the  last  of 
October  to  the  first  of  May,  annually,  and 
that  during  that  time,  ....  if  they  shall 
procure  preaching  of  the  Gospel  among  them, 
they  shall  be  exempted  from  payment  of  minis- 
terial charges  in  the  parish  to  which  they 
belong." 

This  was  the  beginning  of  a  separation,  in 
ecclesiastical  matters,  from  the  older  part  of 
the  town.  In  the  final  petition  for  a  new 
society,  in  1760,  the  inhabitants  of  this  part 
of  Bolton  refer  to  this  privilege  of  meeting  by 
themselves,  for  worship,  for  about  ten  or  a 
dozen  years  past,  and  say,  "which   privilege 


10 

we  have  carefully  improved."  There  is  found 
no  other  evidence  to  this  effect  than  their  own 
sufficient  testimony.  This  winter  parish  was 
doubtless  organized  according  to  law,  having 
a  committee  and  collector,  and  a  clerk  to 
record  its  proceedings.  But  no  local  record 
or  tradition  has  preserved  even  the  fact  that 
such  separate  religious  worship  was  ever 
maintained. 

The  eighteen  persons  who  petitioned  the 
General  Assembly  for  winter  privileges,  in 
1749,  describe  themselves  as  "inhabitants  of 
the  North  end  of  Bolton,  viz.,  inhabiting  North 
of  a  due  East  line  drawn  from  the  Ditch  com- 
monly called  the  T  Ditch,  cross  said  town." 
This  "  T  Ditch  "  is  often  referred  to.*  It  was 
simply  the  legal  landmark  for  town  boundaries, 
at  the  East  end  of  the  line  between  the  towns 
of  Hartford  and  Windsor.  Its  arms  marked 
the  direction  of  the  lines  between  those  towns 
and  the  town  of  Bolton.  The  place  is  now 
the  Northeast  corner  of  the  town  of  Man- 
chester. North  of  this  line,  the  line  between 
Windsor  and  Bolton  was  parallel  with  the  West 


*  See  map. 


II 


line  of  the  present  town  of  Vernon.  It  ran  less 
than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  West  of  the  site  of  the 
church  now  standing  at  Vernon  Centre,  and 
met  the  North  line  of  Bolton  at  the  place 
where  West  Street,  in  Rockville,  now  enters 
the  town  of  Ellington.  More  than  one-third 
of  the  town  of  Vernon  lies  West  of  that  line, 
and  was  then  chiefly  in  the  Second  Society 
in  Windsor,  which  included  more  than  the 
present  towns  of  South  Windsor  and  East 
Windsor.  The  meeting-house  of  this  society 
was  in  the  principal  street  near  the  river, 
nearly  a  mile  and  a  half  North  of  the  present 
church  in  South  Windsor.  The  people  living 
in  the  Eastern  part  of  this  society,  in  the  dis- 
trict called  Hockanum,  were,  it  was  said,  at  a 
distance  of  eight  or  nine  miles,  "  as  the  roads 
go,"  from  the  public  worship  they  supported. 
As  will  appear,  the  ecclesiastical  relations  of 
this  territory  were  the  source  of  the  principal 
difficulties  encountered  in  procuring  the  forma- 
tion of  a  new  society. 

The  next  year  after  the  winter  privileges 
were  granted  to  a  part  of  Bolton,  the  people 
there  took  the   first   step    towards    becoming 


12 

a  separate  ecclesiastical  society.  The  Colony 
records  show  that,  in  May,  1750,  "  Benjamin 
Stoughton  and  others,  inhabitants  living  on  a 
certain  tract  of  land  in  the  Southeast  part  of 
the  town  of  Windsor,"  prayed  "  to  be  made 
a  distinct  ecclesiastical  society,  with  certain 
limits."  At  the  same  time,  "  Isaac  Jones, 
Moses  Thrall,  and  others,  inhabitants  living 
part  of  them  in  the  town  of  Bolton,  and 
part  of  them  living  in  said  Windsor,"  prayed 
"to  be  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  society,  with 
certain  other  limits."  Neither  of  these  petitions 
is  preserved ;  but  it  is  evident  that  they  con- 
flicted with  each  other,  each  of  them  including 
the  district  of  Hockanum  within  the  limits  it 
proposed.  Without  this  district,  both  Wap- 
ping,  where  the  former  petitioners  lived,  and 
the  North  part  of  Bolton,  were  too  small  to 
constitute  a  society.  The  people  in  Hock- 
anum generally  desired  to  unite  with  the 
people  in  Bolton.  But  it  seems  probable  that 
the  movement  to  secure  such  a  union  was 
hastened  by  the  action  of  the  petitioners  in 
Wapping. 

Both  petitions  were  referred  to  the  same 


13 

committee,  which  reported  in  each  case,  in 
the  following  year,  that  the  people  were  but 
few,  and  a  new  society  was  not  necessary  at 
present.  The  town  of  Bolton  had  voted  to 
oppose  the  petition  from  the  North  end  of 
that  town. 

In  May,  1754,  the  application  for  a  new 
society  was  repeated ;  one  that  should  include 
a  district  about  two  miles  in  width,  lying  in 
Windsor.  This  petition  was  negatived,  with- 
out referring  it  to  a  committee. 

Three  years  later,  in  May,  1757,  the  matter 
came  before  the  General  Assembly  in  a  new 
form.  In  brief,  Governor  Roger  Wolcott  and 
other  principal  inhabitants  of  the  Second 
Society  in  Windsor,  and  many  of  the  prin- 
cipal inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Bolton, 
headed  a  petition  asking  "  that  another  dis- 
tinct ecclesiastical  society  may  be  formed  out 
of  Windsor  and  Bolton,  or  out  of  Windsor, 
with  such  bounds  and  limits  as  your  Honours' 
committee  sent  to  view  the  land  judge  reason- 
able and  just."  This  readiness  to  accept  what 
was  reasonable  and  just,  in  the  view  of  judi- 
cious   men,    shows    the    spirit    of    the    whole 


14 

paper;  although  it  is  evident  that  most  of 
the  signers  favored  the  plan  for  forming  a 
new  society  from  Bolton  and  Windsor.  The 
petitioners  acknowledge  that  by  reason  of  the 
different  sentiments  among  them,  "contentions 
have  already  arose  to  a  considerable  degree, 
which  are  likely  to  increase  and  continue,  to 
the  disturbing  of  the  peace  of  Societies,  to 
the  disadvantage  of  religion,  by  breaking  that 
love  and  friendship  that  ought  to  be  in  every 
community." 

The  one  hundred  and  eight  petitioners 
included  the  people  in  the  North  part  of 
Bolton,  and  most  of  those  living  near  them 
in  Windsor.  But  Wapping  still  chose  a 
course  of  separate  action,  and  twenty-six  peti- 
tioners asked,  expressly,  for  a  new  society  that 
should  include  "  Wapping  and  Hocanum, 
with  the  other  lands  in  the  Southeast  part 
of  Windsor."  The  papers  in  this  case  are 
numerous,  and  show  that  the  whole  subject 
was  warmly  discussed.  The  Assembly  de- 
clined to  appoint  the  committee  asked  for; 
perhaps  in  despair  of  harmonizing  the  various 
conflicting  interests. 


15 

Another  three  years  passed  before  it  seemed 
best  to  ask  again,  and  for  the  fourth  time,  for 
a  new  society.  In  May,  1760,  forty-four  in- 
habitants of  the  North  part  of  Bolton,  and  of 
the  East  part  of  the  Second  Society  in  Wind- 
sor, presented  their  memorial  to  the  General 
Assembly.  They  say,  "  Our  difficulties  are  so 
extreme  that  we  are  obliged  to  seek  relief." 
They  carefully  state  these  difficulties;  their 
great  distance  from  their  places  of  divine  wor- 
ship, with  their  "roads  exceeding  rough  and 
bad  traveling."  And  even  in  regard  to  their 
meeting  separately  in  winter,  they  say,  "  Yet 
there  is  a  new  difficulty.  We  are  so  increased 
that  no  dwelling-house  will  receive  or  hold  us 
with  any  tolerable  comfort.  And  hoping  that 
we  shall  still  much  more  increase,  both  in 
number  and  estate,  and  that  the  smiles  of 
Divine  Providence  will  still  continue  with  us, 
it  gives  us  great  hopes  of  success."  They  ask, 
therefore,  to  be  made  a  distinct  ecclesiastical 
society,  with  the  bounds  which  they  describe, 
and  proceed  to  show  that  the  societies  from 
which  they  would  be  taken  would  be  well  able 
to  do  without  them. 

>*   Of  TH2 


i6 


Time  has  made  their  necessities  evident  to 
their  neighbors,  and  has  doubtless  allayed  the 
excitements  of  earlier  years.  There  is  now 
no  counter  petition  from  Wapping,  and  the 
town  of  Bolton,  which  had  hitherto  opposed 
a  division  by  any  line  farther  South  than  the 
"  T  Ditch,"  now  votes,  "  That  the  upper  end 
of  this  town  be  set  off  agreeable  to  the  bounds 
of  the  memorial  now  sent  to  the  General 
Assembly." 

The  Assembly  appointed  Messrs.  Zebulon 
West,  of  Tolland,  and  Silas  Long  and  Jona- 
than Porter,  of  Coventry,  a  committee  to  view 
the  situation  and  circumstances  of  the  pro- 
posed new  society,  and  to  report  the  facts, 
with  their  opinion  thereon,  to  the  Assembly, 
in  October  next.  This  committee  reported, 
in  October,  1760,  that  they  "find  that  within 
the  limits  prayed  for,  there  are  dwelling  up- 
wards of  sixty  families ;  "  and  recounting  the 
facts  of  the  situation,  they  say,  "  Wherefore 
we  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  very  needful  that 
there  should  be  made  a  distinct  ecclesiastical 
society,  and  most  fitting  and  best  that  the 
bounds  and  limits  be  as  prayed  for." 


*7 

The  General  Assembly  accepted  this  report 
of  the  committee,  and  Resolved  and  Enacted 
that  the  inhabitants  living  within  the  limits 
and  bounds  mentioned,  "be  made  into  a  dis- 
tinct Ecclesiastical  Society,  by  the  name  of 
the  Society  of  North  Bolton." 

The  territory  of  North  Bolton  Society  was 
the  same  as  that  of  the  present  town  of 
Vernon.  It  was  taken  from  four  different 
ecclesiastical  societies.  Much  the  largest  part 
of  it  was  taken  from  Bolton,  the  Southern 
boundary  being  a  line  running  nearly  East, 
from  a  point  one  mile  South  of  the  "  T  Ditch." 
The  inhabitants  of  this  section  numbered  a 
little  less  than  three  hundred.  The  number 
living  in  that  part  of  the  society  which  was  in 
the  town  of  Windsor  was  perhaps  one  hundred. 
This  Windsor  part  was  a  little  more  than  a 
mile  and  a  half  in  width,  and  had  belonged  to 
three  societies  which  all  bounded  on  the  town 
of  Bolton.  At  the  North  end,  was  a  tract 
nearly  half  a  mile  in  width,  on  which  were 
living  two  families,  which  was  in  Ellington 
Society.  South  of  this  was  a  strip  half  as 
wide,  having  no  inhabitants,  that  was  in  the 


i8 


North  Society  of  Windsor,  or  Scantic  Parish, 
which  had  been  formed  in  1752.  The  re- 
mainder of  this  tract  was  in  the  Second 
Society  of  Windsor.  All  this  territory  lying 
in  Windsor  became  a  part  of  East  Windsor, 
when  that  town  was  incorporated  in  1768.  In 
May,  1789,  it  was  annexed  to  the  town  of 
Bolton. 

Thus  far  the  course  of  events  has  been 
traced  directly  from  the  original  public  records 
and  documents.  But  from  this  point,  from 
the  moment  the  Society  was  given  existence, 
the  most  important  sources  of  history  are 
wanting.  The  Society  records,  a  complete 
record  of  its  acts  for  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
years,  and  all  papers  in  the  custody  of  the 
clerk,  were  destroyed  by  fire,  in  1876.  A  few 
facts  are  preserved  in  the  accounts  and  papers 
of  the  Society  Committee,  for  a  part  of  this 
period,  and  in  scanty  notes  taken  by  me  from 
the  records,  many  years  before  they  were  lost. 

The  powers  granted  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  new  Society  were  soon  called  into  action 
by  a  writ  issued  by  Thomas  Pitkin,  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  commanding  John  Dart,  Constable, 


19 

to  warn  a  Society  meeting,  to  be  held  at  the 
dwelling-house  of  David  Allis,  on  Wednesday, 
November  12,  1760,  at  one  o'clock,  P.M.  This 
first  meeting  of  the  Society  was  organized  by 
the  choice  of  Isaac  Jones  as  Moderator.  He 
was  the  oldest  member  of  the  Society,  then 
seventy  years  of  age,  and  his  name  stands  first 
on  all  the  petitions  from  the  North  part  of 
Bolton,  and  on  the  record  of  original  members 
of  the  church  formed  there.  John  Chapman 
was  chosen  Clerk  and  Treasurer,  Titus  Olcott, 
Moses  Thrall  and  Aaron  Strong  Society  Com- 
mittee, and  John  Paine  Collector.  It  was 
voted,  "  That  the  present  Committee  shall 
invite  Mr.  Bulkley  Olcott  to  preach  with  us 
upon  probation."  It  was  also  voted,  "  To  hold 
the  Sabbath  day  meeting  at  David  Allis's 
dwelling-house,  till  the  first  of  May  next." 
These  two  votes  relate  to  the  subjects  that 
chiefly  occupied  their  attention  for  some  years  ; 
the  settling  of  a  minister,  and  the  providing  of 
a  place  for  public  worship. 

Plans  for  building  a  meeting-house  were  at 
once  formed.  On  the  28th  of  November,  a 
little  more  than  two  weeks  after  the  first  meet- 


20 

ing,  it  was  voted,  "  To  build  a  Meeting-house, 
to  be  50  by  40  feet,  with  24-foot  posts."  Two 
months  later,  on  the  27th  of  January,  1 761,  it 
was  voted  to  apply  to  the  County  Court  for  a 
committee  "  to  affix  a  place  to  build  a  meeting- 
house." This  was  in  the  regular  course  of 
procedure  then  required  by  law,  and  still  per- 
mitted by  law.  The  Court  records,  at  Hart- 
ford, show  that  "  Zebulon  West,  of  Tolland, 
Esqr.,  and  Messrs.  Jonathan  Porter,  of  Cov- 
entry, and  Solomon  Gilman,  of  Hartford," 
were  appointed  a  committee  for  the  purpose 
stated.  This  committee  met  on  the  25th  of 
February,  and  fixed  upon  a  place  "  on  the 
southward  part  of  land  belonging  to  Mr.  Sam- 
uel Bartlett,  near  to  the  highway  that  leadeth 
westward  from  Mr.  David  Ellis's."  Hardly  a 
fortnight  later,  March  10,  the  Society  voted  to 
build  at  the  place  selected  by  the  committee. 

Apparently,  the  people  expected  to  enter 
at  once  upon  the  work  of  building.  But  no 
strange  thing  happened  when  there  arose 
strong  objection  to  the  location  of  the  meet- 
ing-house;  and  on  the  15th  of  May,  before 
the  report  of  the  committee  was  acted  upon 


21 


by  the  Court,  it  was  voted  to  apply  to  the 
County  Court  for  another  committee  "  to  affix 
a  place  for  building."  But  at  the  June  term, 
the  Court  accepted  and  approved  the  report 
of  its  committee,  and  established  the  place 
therein  mentioned,  to  be  the  place  for  building 
the  meeting-house.  It  was  now  not  lawful  to 
build  elsewhere.  But  so  far  was  this  decree 
from  disposing  of  the  question,  that  several 
months  later,  on  the  23rd  of  September,  the 
Society  voted  to  apply  to  the  General  Assembly 
for  a  committee  to  affix  a  place  to  build  a 
meeting-house.  If  such  application  was  made, 
the  request  was  refused.  The  place  estab- 
lished by  the  Court  must  have  been  accepted, 
at  length,  and  on  the  last  day  of  1761,  more 
than  a  year  after  the  first  vote  to  build,  it  was 
voted,  "  that  the  meeting-house  be  46  by  36 
feet,  with  22-foot  posts;  "  a  somewhat  smaller 
house  than  was  at  first  proposed.  John 
Chapman,  David  Allis  and  Seth  King  were 
appointed  a  building  committee. 

The  place  where  this  house  was  erected 
is  about  half  a  mile  East  of  the  present  meet- 
ing-house at  Vernon  Centre,  on  the  top  of  the 


22 

hill  still  known  to  some  as  the  "  Old  Meeting- 
House  Hill."  It  was  usual  to  choose  an  ele- 
vated place  for  a  house  of  divine  worship. 
This  house  stood  in  the  most  sightly  place 
near  the  centre  of  the  Society.  When  first 
built,  it  could  be  reached  only  from  the  East 
and  the  West,  by  the  highway  already  men- 
tioned. Several  years  later,  highways  were 
opened  leading  to  it  from  the  North  and  from 
the  South.  There  were  no  newspapers  in  those 
days;  and  what  other  sites  were  proposed, 
and  for  a  time  preferred,  we  cannot  now  rea- 
sonably conjecture. 

The  meeting-house  was  raised  on  the  6th 
of  May,  1762,  and  was  first  used  for  divine 
worship  on  the  20th  of  June  following.  It 
could  then  have  been  little  more  than  a  shelter 
for  the  congregation.  Slow  progress  was  made 
in  fitting  the  building  for  use ;  for  it  was  more 
than  two  years  and  a  half  after  it  was  raised, 
December  13,  1764,  when  the  Society  voted 
to  accept  the  account  of  the  committee  for 
building.  The  house  was  then  far  from  being 
completed.  In  1768,  it  was  voted  that  the 
committee  "  provide  a  lock  and  key,  and  bolts, 


23 

to  fasten  up  the  meeting-house."  Pews  were 
built  in  1770.  Probably  before  that  time  the 
house  had  been  furnished  only  with  benches. 
The  house  was  not  plastered  until  1774,  twelve 
years  after  it  was  first  occupied  for  public 
worship. 

This  slow  progress  in  building  was  not  due 
to  indifference,  or  to  fitful  zeal.  But  the  peo- 
ple were  poor,  and  money  was  scarce,  to  a 
degree  that  can  now  hardly  be  understood. 
It  was  a  heavy  burden  for  a  people  of  such 
slender  means,  to  bear  the  expense  of  building 
a  house  of  worship,  and  of  settling  a  minister. 
They  endured  well  the  hardships  of  those 
times.  There  was  a  like  slow  progress  in 
finishing  the  meeting-houses  erected  a  few 
years  earlier,  in  the  neighboring  societies  of 
Tolland  and  East  Windsor ;  parishes  stronger 
than  this  in  numbers  and  in  wealth. * 

This  meeting-house  was  of  the  prevailing 
style  of  architecture  for  country  churches;  a 
plain  four-sided  building,  without  a  steeple. 
It  fronted  the  highway  on  the  South  by  one 

*  Waldo's  History  of  Tolland,  p.  27,  1755-1760.     Stiles's  History 
of  Windsor,  pp.  298,  310.     1755,  1759,  1767,  1769. 


24 

of  its  longer  sides,  having  doors,  also,  in  the 
East  and  West  ends.  It  was  not  dwarfed  by 
the  horse-sheds  and  the  school-house,  the  only- 
buildings  erected  near  it ;  and  standing  on  ele- 
vated ground,  and  for  a  long  time  surrounded 
by  the  original  forest,  it  had  a  dignity  which  it 
were  vain  to  seek  in  the  structure  that  has 
stood  for  sixty  years,  having  substantially  the 
same  frame, — the  East  wing  of  the  old  Frank 
Factory,  in  Rockville.  (Built  in  183 1  and 
1832.     Cogswell,  p.  15). 

The  interior  of  the  house  was  arranged, 
also,  after  the  almost  universal  fashion ;  with 
nearly  square  pews  having  straight-backed 
seats;  with  galleries  on  three  sides,  and,  high 
above  the  stairs,  in  each  front  corner,  a  negro 
pew. 

The  pulpit,  on  the  North  side,  was  consid- 
erably elevated  above  the  pews ;  and  over  this 
was  the  sounding-board.  This  was  a  structure 
of  considerable  size,  and  wrought  into  some 
striking  form,  of  which  we  cannot  now  obtain 
an  exact  description.  It  was  fastened  to  the 
wall,  above  the  pulpit,  and  was  also  suspended 
from  the  ceiling,  by  an  apparently  slender  rod. 


25 

This  sounding-board  was  considered  an  indis- 
pensable aid  to  hearing.  It  was  certainly  a 
never-failing  source  of  wonder  and  of  awe  to 
successive  generations  of  children  in  the  con- 
gregation. All  persons  who  have  attempted 
to  describe  it  have  made  statements  similar  to 
that  of  tne  late  Rev.  Dr.  Perrin,  who  said  but 
a  few  months  before  his  death,  that  in  his  child- 
hood he  used  to  look  up  to  it  with  wonder, 
and  ask  himself,  —  "  What  if  it  should  fall  ?  " 

The  other  work  laid  upon  the  Society  in 
its  earliest  years,  was  that  of  settling  a  min- 
ister. It  does  not  appear  that  during  the  first 
year  any  one  had  preached  there  as  a  candi- 
date for  settlement.  At  the  end  of  that  year, 
at  the  annual  meeting  held  in  November, 
1 76 1,  it  was  voted,  "to  hire  a  candidate  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  us  the  year  ensuing." 
On  the  10th  of  March  following,  it  was  voted, 
"to  send  to  the  Association  for  advice,  in 
order  for  calling  a  candidate  upon  probation." 
This  was  the  usage  of  the  times,  continued  till 
a  much  later  date,  to  apply  to  the  Moderator 
of  the  local  Association,  to  recommend  some 
one  as  a  candidate. 


26 


Only  three  Sabbaths  passed  after  the  above 
vote,  before  the  people  were  ready  to  take  the 
first  step  towards  settling  a  minister.  On  the 
29th  of  March,  1762,  it  was  voted,  "to  call 
Mr.  Ebenezer  Kellogg  upon  probation,  in 
order  for  settlement."  After  a  trial  of  three 
months,  on  the  first  of  July,  it  was  "  Voted,  to 
call  Mr.  Ebenezer  Kellogg  to  settle  in  the 
work  of  the  ministry  in  said  Society."  It  was 
voted  to  give  him  as  a  salary,  ^55  the  first 
year,  and  so  to  rise  by  £1  yearly,  to  ^65  ;  and 
also  to  give  him  ,£100  settlement  at  the  end 
of  one  year  after  his  ordination,  and  £50  at 
the  end  of  the  next  year.  On  the  9th  of 
September  the  vote  was  changed,  naming  a 
salary  of  ^60  the  first  year,  to  increase  by  £1 
yearly,  until  it  reached  £70.  One  month 
later,  it  was  voted  "  to  accept  Mr.  Ebenezer 
Kellogg's  answer,  dated  October  7,  1762." 
The  salary  remained  unchanged  through  Mr. 
Kellogg's  life.  After  the  adoption  of  the 
federal  currency,  the  sum  was  expressed  by 
#233-33>  instead  of  £70. 

All  these  preliminary  measures  were  taken 
by  the   Society  alone,  there   being  as  yet  no 


27 

organized  church  to  take  part  in  them.  The 
church  records  contain  no  account  of  the 
formation  of  the  church,  except  a  single  line, 
written  by  Deacon  Francis  King,  as  late  as 
1818;  "The  Church  in  Vernon  was  formed 
October,  1762."  This  doubtless  rests  on  the 
authority  of  a  paper  written  and  signed  by  the 
first  pastor,  and  dated  January  3,  181 5,  in 
which  he  says,  "  Sometime  in  October,  in  the 
year  1762,  a  Church  was  gathered  and  em- 
bodied in  said  North  Bolton  Society."  But 
there  is  good  reason  for  supposing  that  while 
the  thirty-five  original  members  of  the  church 
had  been  dismissed  from  the  church  in  Bolton, 
as  early  as  October,  and  then  made  such 
arrangements  for  organization  as  were  needful, 
they  were  not  "embodied  into  a  church  state," 
to  use  the  language  of  those  times,  until  the 
Council  met,  on  the  24th  of  November,  to 
ordain  the  candidate  called  by  the  Society. 
This  is  directly  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the 
call  of  the  Church,  and  the  candidate's  accept- 
ance of  the  call,  was  upon  that  day.  This  fact 
appears  by  the  following  paper,  the  earliest 
church  paper  on  file :  — 


28 


Att  a  meeting  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  North 
Bolton,  Novbr  24th  A  Dom.  1762,  att  the  house  of  Mr. 
John  Chapman  in  sd  North  Bolton  ; 

It  is  unanimously  agreed  by  this  Church  that  nothing 
shall  be  deemed  a  Vote  or  Act  of  the  Church  wherein 
there  is  not  the  explicit  consent  or  agreement  both  of  the 
Pastor  and  of  the  major  part  of  the  brethren  of  the 
Church  present  at  the  meeting. 

Voted  allso  by  this  Church  to  give  M.r  Ebenezer 
Kellog  a  Call  to  settle  with  us  in  the  work  of  the  Gospel 
Ministry. 

Isaac  Jones, 
Titus  Olcott, 
John  Chapman, 
Isaac  Brunson, 
Charles  King, 
David  Allis, 
Seth  King, 
Thomas  Darte, 
Asahel  Root, 
Thomas  Chapman, 
Jabez  Rogers, 
Solomon  Loomis, 
Nathan  Messenger, 
Caleb  Talcott. 


I  concur  w*  ye  Article  above, 
relating  to  Chh  Discipline, 
&  also  accept  of  ye  Call  of 


afrsd  Chh. 


Ebenf  Kellogg. 


(This  paper  was  signed  by  all  the  original  male  members  of  the 
Church  but  two;  Hezekiah  King  and  Stephen  Payne,  who  were 
probably  unable  to  be  present  at  that  meeting.) 


29 

These  votes  were  the  first  church  acts; 
taken,  doubtless,  immediately  after  the  Council 
had  declared  these  disciples  to  be  duly  consti- 
tuted a  Church  of  Christ,  and  before  it  pro- 
ceeded to  examine  the  candidate  who  was  to 
be  ordained.  He  was  to  be  constituted  the 
pastor  of  that  Church  ;  and  it  was  not  in  order 
to  proceed  to  his  ordination  until  the  Church 
had  called  him  to  be  its  minister,  and  he  had 
accepted  that  call. 

There  is  no  record  of  this  ordination,  and 
the  most  diligent  inquiry  has  failed  to  dis- 
cover any  facts  respecting  it ;  the  name  of  the 
preacher,  or  of  others  who  took  part  in  the 
exercises.  The  Council  was  the  North  Con- 
sociation of  Hartford  County,  which  included 
churches  so  distant  as  those  of  Stafford  on 
the  one  hand,  and  Farmington  and  Canton  on 
the  other.  Probably  most  of  the  Churches 
not  remote  from  that  place  were  represented 
in  this  Council. 

The  Church  then  formed  was  known  as 
the  "  Second  Church  of  Christ  in  Bolton," 
until  the  town  of  Vernon  was  incorporated, 
in  October,  1808,  when  the  Church  and  the 
Society  took  the  name  of  the  town. 


30 

The  ministry  of  the  first  pastor  continued 
till  his  death,  in  1817,  nearly  fifty-five  years 
from  the  time  of  his  ordination.  Yet  the 
history  of  the  Church  and  Society  during  this 
long  period,  —  a  period  that  covered  all  the 
great  events  of  our  early  national  history, — 
presents  but  few  facts  that  need  here  be  men- 
tioned. The  principal  fact  is  one  shown  by 
the  record  of  church  communicants;  that 
there  were  almost  yearly  additions  to  the 
membership,  and  that  but  few  years  passed 
without  receiving  some  upon  profession  of 
their  faith.  Taking  into  account  the  changes 
by  death  and  removal,  the  resident  church 
members  seem  to  have  increased  in  quite  as 
great  a  ratio  as  the  population  of  the  Society, 
which  somewhat  more  than  doubled  during 
this  period. 

The  record  of  business  transacted  by  the 
Church  is  valuable  chiefly  for  its  brevity,  as 
showing  an  absence  of  contentions,  and  but 
few  occasions  for  church  discipline.  The  only 
church  acts  for  more  than  thirty  years,  that 
seem  worthy  of  record,  were  of  five  different 
dates,  in  the  choice  of  deacons. 


3i 

The  spirit  in  which  the  pastor  labored, 
and  the  events  of  his  ministry  which  he 
thought  most  worthy  of  mention,  may  best  be 
learned  from  his  own  words,  spoken  to  his 
people  in  1812,  in  his  review  of  fifty  years  of 
labor  among  them.  His  text  was  1  Thessa- 
lonians,  2:  19.  "For  what  is  our  hope,  or 
joy,  or  crown  of  rejoicing  ?  Are  not  even  ye, 
in  the  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  at 
his  coming  ? "  Of  his  own  ministry  and  its 
results,  he  said : 

"  I  was  ordained  pastor  over  the  church 
and  congregation  in  this  place,  November  the 
24th  day,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  and  Savior 
Jesus  Christ,  1762,  and  the  24th  day  of  the 
present  month  completed  the  term  of  fifty 
years.  Through  which  period  of  time,  I  have 
been  detained  from  attending  on  public  wor- 
ship, and  preaching  on  the  Lord's  day,  by 
reason  of  infirmity  (if  I  recollect  right),  not 
more  than  twelve  Sabbaths.  And  having 
obtained  help  of  God,  I  continue  to  this  day, 
testifying  unto  you,  both  aged  and  in  young 
life,  the  grace  of  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  for  the  salvation  of  your  souls. 


32 

"  I  am  sensible  I  have  labored  among  you 
in  much  weakness,  and  have  reason  to  ex- 
claim, in  the  words  of  the  prophet,  '  My  lean- 
ness ! '  '  My  leanness ! '  However,  I  am  not 
conscious  of  having  knowingly  withholden  from 
you  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  nor  neglected 
to  teach  and  inculcate  upon  you  the  doctrines 
and  duties  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  they 
are  revealed  in  the  gospel  of  the  Savior. 

"  The  success  of  my  ministerial  labors 
among  you,  I  know  not ;  God  knoweth  ;  but 
hope  that  I  have  not  altogether  labored  in 
vain,  and  been  of  no  service  to  you  on 
spiritual  accounts.  It  hath  pleased  God,  in 
the  course  of  my  ministry  among  you,  to 
favour  his  people  with  three  or  four  seasons  of 
the  awakening  influences  of  his  Holy  Spirit, 
whereby  an  unusual  attention  was  given  to  the 
word  of  his  grace ;  several  put  upon  this  inter- 
esting inquiry,  what  they  should  do  to  be 
saved  ;  some  few  hopefully  converted  to  God  ; 
and  it  was  a  refreshing  time  to  His  saints. 
These  seasons  of  uncommon  awakening  were 
in  and  about  the  years  1772,  1782,  1800 
and  1809. 


33 

"At  other  times,  some  few  in  almost  every 
year  since  my  ministry  have  felt  so  much  of 
the  importance  of  religion  and  spiritual  con- 
cerns as  induced  them  to  publickly  profess  it, 
and  join  to  the  Church. 

"  The  number  who  have  become  members 
of  this  Church,  by  solemnly  covenanting  with 
God  and  His  people,  since  my  ministry,  is 
339.  And  the  number  of  those  who  have 
been  dedicated  to  God  in  baptism  is  825  ;  28 
of  whom  were  adult  persons.  The  deaths 
which  have  taken  place  since  I  was  settled 
here  are  about  389,  and  the  marriages,  235. 

"  Time  in  its  nature  is  fleeting.  It  bears 
all  the  living  along  with  it.  One  generation 
passeth  away,  and  another  generation  cometh. 
It  has  been  so  from  the  beginning  of  time, 
and  it  will  continue  to  be  so  till  time  shall 
end.  Some  of  us,  who  yet  are  of  the  number 
of  the  living,  are  far  advanced  in  life,  and 
according  to  the  course  of  nature  must  expect 
shortly  to  be  numbered  with  the  great  congre- 
gation of  the  dead. 

"As  to  myself,  the  time  of  my  departure  is 
near  at  hand.     And  in  view  and  prospect  of 


34 

that  solemn  day,  I  am  supported  with  a 
believing  hope  that  I  trust  in  Christ  as  my 
all-sufficient  Savior,  and  that  I  have  not 
labored  altogether  in  vain  among  you ;  but 
through  the  rich  and  free  grace  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus,  have  had  some  souls  given  me 
as  seals  of  my  ministry,  and  who  will  be  to  me 
a  crown  of  rejoicing  in  the  day  of  the  Lord 
Jesus." 

Not  one  of  the  thirty-five  original  members 
of  the  Church  who  first  received  him  as  their 
pastor,  was  present  to  listen  to  these  words. 
By  death,  and  by  removal  from  the  place,  all 
had  long  since  passed  from  his  pastoral  care. 

Mr.  Kellogg  continued  to  preach  pretty 
regularly  for  about  four  years  after  the  close 
of  his  half  century  of  ministerial  service, 
except  for  a  time  in  1815.  In  that  year,  there 
was  another  season  of  uncommon  awakening, 
more  fruitful  of  manifest  results  than  any  that 
had  preceded  it.  This  was  principally  in  con- 
nection with  the  labors  of  Rev.  Hervey  Talcott 
and  Rev.  Cornelius  B.  Everest. 

The  infirmities  of  age  finally  withdrew  him 
from   pulpit    labors    early   in    the   year    181 7. 


35 

He  died  on  the  3d  of  September,  18 17,  in  the 
81st  year  of  his  age,  and  in  the  55th  year  of 
his  ministry  to  that  people. 

Ebenezer  Kellogg  was  born  in  Norwalk, 
Connecticut,  April  5,  1737;  was  graduated 
at  Yale  College  in  1757;  studied  theology 
under  the  Rev.  David  Judson,  of  Newtown, 
Connecticut,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  May 
28,  1760.  He  did  not  make  a  public  profes- 
sion of  religion  till  he  was  twenty-one  years  of 
age;  yet  he  said,  "from  my  youth,  and  even 
from  childhood,  I  have  been  in  the  fear  of  God." 

Like  many  others  of  his  day,  he  read  his 
sermons  without  any  action.  They  lacked  the 
refinements  of  style,  and  the  graces  of  delivery, 
which  are  now  more  commonly  found  and 
more  highly  valued.  But  they  were  serious 
discourses,  carefully  setting  forth  the  most 
important  doctrines  and  duties  of  religion, 
and  they  were  so  founded  on  the  word  of 
God,  that  his  people  were  instructed  in  the 
way  of  life. 

There  is  testimony  which  cannot  be  quoted 
here,  to  his  faithful  labors  in  one  of  the  revivals 
referred  to.     There  is  special  evidence  to  his 


fUHIVEHSI 


36 

efforts  to  promote  spirituality  in  the  Church. 
What  characters  were  formed  under  such  in- 
fluences, may  be  seen  in  some  of  those  who 
came  to  manhood  in  the  latter  part  of  this 
ministry,  and  who  were  foremost  in  the  early 
business  and  religious  activities  of  Rockville. 

There  is  still  one  cord  unbroken,  binding 
back  the  present  church  life  of  Rockville,  to 
the  ministry  of  that  first  pastor  in  Vernon. 
With  his  own  hand  he  recorded  the  last 
admission  to  the  Church  during  his  lifetime ; 
—  "Anno  Domini  1817,  May  25,  Eliza,  wife 
of  George  Kellogg,  recommended  by  Revd  E. 
Cook,  of  Orford."     (Now  Manchester.)* 

The  records  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Society, 
after  the  completion  of  the  meeting-house, 
related  almost  wholly  to  matters  of  routine; 
the  choice  of  officers,  the  laying  of  taxes,  and, 
till  1796,  when  a  separate  School  Society  was 
formed,  as  required  by  law,  the  care  and  control 
of  the  public  schools. 

In  May,  18 10,  a  part  of  the  town  of  East 
Windsor  was    annexed    to   the    Ecclesiastical 


*  Eliza    Noble   Kellogg  was   born   at    Middletown,    Conn., 
March  7,  1799,  and  died  at  Rockville,  September  21,  1892. 


37 

Society  of  Vernon.  This  tract  was  bounded 
on  the  West  by  a  line  drawn  from  the  South- 
west corner  of  the  town  of  Ellington,  to  a 
point  in  the  then  South  line  of  East  Windsor. 
It  was  one  mile  in  width  at  the  North  end,  and 
a  little  wider  at  the  South  end,  and  included 
most  of  the  present  village  of  Oakland,  now  in 
the  town  of  Manchester.  After  the  adoption 
of  the  State  Constitution,  in  1818,  all  Society 
lines  were  practically  obliterated.  But  this 
territory  continued  to  be  a  part  of  the  Vernon 
School  Society,  until  183 1. 

The  second  pastor  of  the  Church  in  Vernon 
was  the  Rev.  William  Ely ;  a  native  of  Say- 
brook,  Connecticut,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College 
in  181 3,  and  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary 
in  181 7.  He  came  to  Vernon  directly  from 
the  Seminary,  and  first  preached  there  Sep- 
tember 28,  181 7.  He  received  a  call  from  the 
Church  On  the  4th  of  December,  but  was  not 
ordained  until  the  nth  of  March,  1818.  The 
Church  increased  in  numbers  during  his  brief 
ministry,  fifty  persons  being  received  by  pro- 
fession. In  a  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Ely 
by  the   Rev.  Dr.  Calhoun,  it  is  said  of  him, 


3« 

"he  was  particularly  interesting  and  profitable 
to  the  young,  and  the  youths  of  Vernon 
received  his  special  attention."  He  is  held 
in  grateful  remembrance,  as  having  established 
the  Sabbath  School  in  Vernon,  in  May,  1818; 
one  of  the  earliest  in  Tolland  County.  This 
School  had  marked  success  under  his  care  as 
Superintendent.  It  was  for  many  years  main- 
tained only  in  the  summer  season,  and  included 
in  its  membership  only  such  as  were  called 
"  children,"  perhaps  all  of  them  under  the  age 
of  fifteen  years.  The  early  methods  of  con- 
ducting a  Sabbath  School,  and  its  relations  to 
the  Church,  were  very  different  from  those 
now  common.  Soon  after  the  close  of  Mr. 
Ely's  ministry,  a  Sabbath  School  Society  was 
formed,  which  chose  the  officers  of  the  School, 
appointed  persons  to  solicit  and  enroll  pupils, 
and  provided  for  the  expenses.  This  oversight 
and  responsibility  were  at  length  assumed  by 
the  Church,  by  general  consent,  and  almost 
informally.  But  for  forty  years,  or  more,  after 
the  Sabbath  School  was  founded,  there  is  not 
a  single  reference  to  it  in  the  Church  records. 
Mr.   Ely  was  dismissed  February  21,  1822. 


39 

He  was  afterwards,  for  about  fifteen  years, 
pastor  of  the  church  in  North  Mansfield.  He 
died  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  November 
2,  1850,  aged  58  years. 

After  a  vacancy  in  the  pastoral  office  of 
more  than  two  years,  the  Church  voted,  on 
the  19th  of  May,  1824,  "to  give  the  Revd. 
Amzi  Benedict  a  call  to  settle  with  this 
Church,  as  their  pastor."  The  call  was  ac- 
cepted, and  Mr.  Benedict  was  installed  on  the 
30th  of  June,  1824. 

The  principal  event  connected  with  this 
ministry  was  the  building  of  a  new  meeting- 
house, which  was  dedicated  April  4,  1827. 
This  is  the  house  of  public  worship  now  stand- 
ing at  Vernon  Centre,  having  been  moved  a 
short  distance  from  its  original  site,  changed 
in  the  structure  of  its  front  and  steeple,  and 
remodeled  in  the  interior. 

Mr.  Benedict  was  dismissed,  at  his  own 
request,  on  the  10th  of  February,  1830.  He 
continued  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  except 
when  he  was  for  a  while  engaged  in  teaching, 
until  he  died,  in  Brooklyn,  New  York, 
November  17,  1856,  aged  65  years.  His 
death  resulted  from  a  railway  accident. 


40 

On  the  2 2d  of  September,  1830,  the 
Church  in  Vernon  invited  the  Rev.  David  L. 
Hunn,  who  had  been  preaching  there  since 
July,  to  become  their  pastor.  He  did  not 
accept  the  call,  but  continued  to  preach  as 
stated  supply,  until  the  close  of  March,  1832. 

A  revival  of  religion  was  in  progress  when 
he  began  to  preach  there,  which  continued 
through  that  and  the  following  year.  This 
was  an  era  of  remarkable  revivals.  The  char- 
acteristic means  used  for  promoting  them  was 
the  "protracted  meeting,"  usually  continued 
for  four  days,  in  which  the  minister  was 
assisted  by  neighboring  pastors,  and  other 
preachers.  Such  a  meeting  was  held  in 
Vernon,  commencing  on  the  6th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1 83 1.  Of  this  meeting,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Hunn  said,  in  a  published  account  of 
the  revival,  that  "it  was  in  all  respects  the 
most  interesting  and  efficient  meeting  of  the 
kind  that  has  been  held  in  this  region."  More 
than  80  persons  united  with  the  Church  upon 
profession,  during  the  years  1831  and  1832;  a 
much  larger  number  than  in  any  corresponding 
period  of  the  Church's  history. 


4i 

The  fourth  pastor  of  the  Church  was  the 
Reverend  Chester  Humphrey,  who  was  or- 
dained October  4,  1832.  The  Church  con- 
tinued to  increase  in  numbers.  In  the  five 
years  before  another  church  was  formed,  it 
received  to  its  membership  more  than  eighty 
persons;  in  nearly  equal  numbers  by  profes- 
sion and  by  letter.  Many  of  these,  as  of  those 
received  after  the  revivals  of  1830  and  1831, 
were  living  in  the  North  part  of  the  town. 
The  growing  industries  there  brought  hither 
many  professed  Christians,  who  became  mem- 
bers of  the  church  in  Vernon.  They  brought 
hither  many  others,  chiefly  persons  in  early 
life,  who  came  under  the  prevailing  religious 
influences  of  the  place.  Attendance  upon  the 
Sabbath  worship  at  Vernon  was  expected,  and 
was  as  general  as  could  be  secured  from  such 
a  distance,  of  two  and  a  half  to  three  miles. 
(One  of  the  distinct  recollections  of  my  child- 
hood, is  that  of  the  large  number  of  men  from 
this  part  of  the  town  who  used  to  pass  my 
father's  house,  every  Sunday,  on  foot,  in  going 
to  meeting  at  the  Centre  and  returning.  One 
man,  for  a  time,  made  the  journey  on  such  a 


42 

lowly  beast  as  some  of  the  ancient  prophets 
rode.  But  the  most  noticeable  sight  of  the 
day  was  the  large  team  wagon  of  the  Rock 
Company,  with  four  horses  driven  by  John 
Chapman,  Junior,  full  loaded  with  girls  from 
the  Rock  Factory.)  There  were  many  local 
religious  meetings,  and  the  daily  presence  of 
Christian  example.  And  thus  about  one- 
fourth  of  all  the  additions  to  the  Church  in 
Vernon,  for  the  seven  years  preceding  the 
formation  of  the  Second  Church,  were  from 
that  part  of  the  town  which  became  the  espe- 
cial care  of  the  new  church.  This  district 
was  of  much  narrower  limits  than  the  present 
city  of  Rockville.  All  but  one  or  two  of  the 
sixty  families  enumerated  here  in  1836  lived 
on  a  tract  but  half  a  mile  in  width,  on  the 
Northern  border  of  the  town.  Hardly  ten  of 
these  were  on  the  South  side  of  the  river. 
The  fact  should  be  noticed,  that  only  six  of 
the  thirty-five  members  who  were  dismissed 
from  Vernon,  in  1837,  to  found  the  new 
church,  were  received  at  Vernon  before  1830. 
Clearly,  the  providence  and  the  grace  of  God 
were  alike  preparing  the  way  for  a  living 
church  on  this  ground. 


43 

The  measures  taken  to  form  a  Second 
Church  and  Society  in  Vernon  were  fully 
described  in  the  Historical  Discourse  already 
referred  to.  There  was  no  occasion  for  action 
by  the  original  Ecclesiastical  Society.  Those 
of  its  members  who  proposed  to  form  a  new 
Society,  withdrew  from  the  old  Society,  indi- 
vidually, in  the  manner  provided  by  law. 

The  subject  was  first  presented  to  the 
Church  in  Vernon,  at  a  meeting  held  on  the 
nth  of  November,  1836,  when,  as  appears  by 
the  record,  "  a  petition  was  made  by  several 
members  residing  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
town,  for  permission  to  meet  and  enjoy  the 
ordinances  of  the  gospel  by  themselves,  during 
the  ensuing  season."  A  committee  was  ap- 
pointed, to  consider  this  petition,  and  report 
at  a  future  meeting.  This  committee  con- 
sisted of  the  pastor,  and  Deacon  Flavel  Tal- 
cott,  Messrs.  Thomas  Wright  Kellogg,  John 
Chapman  and  George  Kellogg.  At  a  meeting 
held  one  week  later,  "the  committee  reported 
in  favor  of  granting  the  petition.  The  report 
was  accepted,  and  a  motion  carried  to  grant 
the  petition." 


44 

There  was  no  occasion  for  further  action 
by  the  Vernon  Church,  until  the  preparations 
for  forming  a  new  church  were  nearly  com- 
pleted. Those  of  the  Vernon  members  who 
were  engaged  in  this  work,  then  presented  a 
request  that  their  covenant  relations  with  the 
Church  in  Vernon  might  be  dissolved.  The 
record  shows,  that  at  a  meeting  of  that 
Church,  held  October  2,  1837,  "a  vote  was 
passed  to  dismiss  the  following  persons,  agree- 
ably to  their  request,  with  a  view  to  their 
being  organized  into  a  Church."  This  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  names  of  the  thirty-five  members 
who  were  thus  dismissed. 

The  Church  in  Vernon,  by  this  act,  parted 
with  about  one-sixth  of  its  resident  members, 
and  with  no  small  part  of  its  working  force. 
Yet  the  work  undertaken  by  those  who  went 
forth  for  this  high  purpose  was  so  evidently 
one  to  which  they  were  called  of  God,  by  His 
providences,  that  they  were,  in  the  prayers  of 
their  remaining  brethren,  recommended  to  the 
grace  of  God,  for  the  work  to  be  fulfilled. 

The  whole  work  accomplished  by  the 
Church   during   this  period    cannot   be  suflfi- 


45 

ciently  understood  from  its  records,  nor  from 
considering  its  whole  influence  within  this 
town.  The  impulse  of  migration,  strong  from 
the  first,  carried  away  from  the  town  one-half 
of  its  seven  hundred  members,  and  scattered 
them  in  nearly  every  Northern  State  this  side 
of  the  Mississippi.  Of  a  goodly  number  of  all 
these,  it  is  distinctly  known  that  they  answered 
the  call  of  duty,  in  founding  and  sustaining 
other  churches,  and  that  as  godly  men  and 
women,  they  upheld  the  honor  of  the  Christian 
name. 

Seven  of  the  early  members  became 
preachers  of  the  Gospel ;  Salmon  G.  King, 
Allen  McLean,  Francis  King,  Joel  Talcott, 
Eliot  Palmer,  Cyril  Pearl  and  Lavalette 
Perrin.  All  but  one  of  these  were  natives 
of  Vernon ;  all  were  children  of  members  of 
the  Church  there,  were  baptized  by  the  first 
pastor,  were  there  taught  the  way  of  life,  and 
there  professed  their  faith  in  Christ.  All  left 
the  place  in  early  manhood,  and  labored  long 
and  faithfully  in  the  Christian  ministry,  except 
Francis  King,  who  preached  for  several  years, 
and  then  used  the  office  of  a  deacon  well  in 
his  native  town. 


46    • 

Two  others  should  be  named,  children  of 
the  church,  and  there  instructed,  but  provi- 
dentially led  to  profess  Christ  elsewhere ; 
Ebenezer  Kellogg,  a  grandson  of  the  first 
pastor,  for  nearly  thirty  years  a  professor  in 
Williams  College,  preaching  also  in  the  early 
years,  as  his  health  permitted,  whose  voice 
was  sometimes  heard  in  the  church  in  which 
he  was  baptized.  Also  an  early  missionary, 
Lauren  Andrews.  His  life  work  was  in  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  where  he  was  for  forty  years 
useful  as  a  missionary,  the  author  of  a  grammar 
and  a  dictionary  of  the  language,  and  as  Judge 
under  the  Hawaiian  Government. 

And  thus,  by  the  dispersion  of  its  members, 
and  of  the  preachers  it  had  reared,  that  church 
in  Vernon  scattered  abroad  the  godly  influ- 
ences it  had  graciously  received ;  so  that  it 
may  well  be  said,  its  line  hath  gone  out 
through  the  earth. 


47 


The  present  Church  at  Vernon  Centre  was  dedicated 
on  the  4th  of  April,  1827.  The  following  "  Order  of 
Exercises "  for  the  occasion  is  reprinted  from  a  copy 
received  from  Mrs.  Pearl,  of  Vernon  Centre ;  perhaps 
the  only  copy  that  has  been  preserved. 

The  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Reverend  Amzi 
Benedict,  the  pastor  of  the  Church,  from  Genesis  xxviii. 
17  :  "And  he  was  afraid,  and  said,  How  dreadful  is  this 
place  !  This  is  none  other  but  the  house  of  God,  and 
this  is  the  gate  of  heaven."  Mr.  Benedict  also  offered 
the  Dedicatory  Prayer,  which  is  to  this  day  remembered 
as  being  peculiarly  solemn  and  impressive,  "  as  if  he  were 
talking  face  to  face  with  God." 

The  music  for  the  occasion  was  under  the  direction 
of  Mr.  Salmon  Phelps,  of  East  Hartford.  The  choir  was 
a  large  one,  and  had  been  under  his  instruction  through 
the  winter.  The  music  for  the  selections  from  the 
Psalms  was  doubtless  that  of  English  composers,  who 
took  the  words  from  the  Psalter,  rather  than  from  our 
common  version  of  the  Scriptures. 


ORDER    OF   EXERCISES 

AT  THE 

DEDICATION  OF  THE  CHURCH 
IN  VERNON, 

WEDNESDAY,    APRIL   4TH,    1827. 


3npoeatton  anb  HeaMng  tfye  Scriptures. 

Chorus. — 

O,  praise  God  in  his  holiness, 

Praise  him  in  the  firmament  of  his  power ; 

Praise  him  in  his  noble  acts, 

Praise  him  according  to  his  excellent  greatness ; 

Praise  him  in  the  sound  of  the  trumpet. 

Praise  him  upon  the  lute  and  harp ; 

Praise  him  in  the  cymbals  and  dances, 

Praise  him  on  strings  and  pipes ; 

Let  every  thing  that  hath  breath  praise  the  Lord. 

Prayer. 

OLD   HUNDRED. 

Great  God,  we  to  thy  honor  raise 
These  walls  to  echo  forth  thy  praise ; 
Do  thou,  descending,  fill  the  place 
With  choicest  tokens  of  thy  grace. 

Here  let  the  great  Redeemer  reign, 
With  all  the  graces  of  his  train, 
While  power  divine  his  word  attends, 
To  conquer  foes  and  cheer  his  friends. 

And,  in  the  great  decisive  day, 
When  God  the  nations  shall  survey, 
May  it  before  the  world  appear, 
That  crowds  were  born  to  glory  here. 


Recitative. — One  thing  have  I  desired  of  the  Lord,  which  I 
will  require. 

Chorus. — That  I  may  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  all  the 
days  of  my  life :  to  behold  the  fair  beauty  of  the  Lord,  and  to  visit 
his  temple.     Amen. 

Sermon. 

Chorus. — I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  We  will  go  into 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  for  there  is  the  seat  of  judgment,  even  the 
seat  of  the  house  of  David.  O  pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem. 
They  shall  prosper  that  love  thee.  Peace  be  within  thy  walls,  and 
plenteousness  within  thy  palaces.  I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto 
me,  we  will  go  into  the  house  of  the  Lord.     Amen. 

<£ortdubmg  prayer. 


In  God's  own  house  pronounce  his  praise ; 

His  grace  he  there  reveals  ; 
To  heaven  your  joy  and  wonder  raise, 

For  there  his  glory  dwells. 

Let  all  your  sacred  passions  move, 

While  you  rehearse  his  deeds ; 
But  the  great  work  of  saving  love 

Your  highest  praise  exceeds. 

All  that  hath  motion,  life  and  breath, 

Proclaims  your  Maker  blest ; 
Yet  when  my  voice  expires  in  death, 

My  soul  shall  praise  him  best. 

Chorus. — Hallelujah  to  the  God  of  Israel.  He  will  save  us  in 
the  day  of  fight.  Hallelujah,  the  Lord  is  our  defender ;  he  will  save 
us  in  the  day  of  fight.  God  is  great  in  battle,  for  he  is  the  Lord  of 
hosts.     Hallelujah,  he  is  our  refuge,  I  will  praise  him  for  evermore. 

Benebictton. 


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